Small Business Owners Take to Capitol Hill to Push Higher Minimum Wage

Posted on: March 28, 2014

President Barack Obama recently announced his intentions to work toward getting the federal minimum wage boosted to $10.10 per hour, but there has been some resistance to such a move. Much of this, ostensibly, is because of concerns about the ways in which such a move would impact small business owners’ bottom lines going forward, but some recently took to the halls of Congress to extol the virtues of such a move.

Along with a number of U.S. Senators who support boosting the minimum wage, several small business owners also testified before Congress in support of such a move for a number of reasons, according to a report from UPI. U.S. Sen. Robert Casey of Pennsylvania noted that 70 percent of the economy comes from consumer spending, and that by raising the minimum wage, people would simply have more to spend at businesses in their area. This may actually be particularly beneficial to smaller companies, because those are the places where consumers tend to shop most.

A benefit to individual companies Owners, meanwhile, highlighted other issues that their employees might face if the minimum wage was not increased, such as more difficulty in paying bills, and more frustration with their jobs, the report said. In addition, they highlighted that being able to pay workers competitively, rather than letting them scrape by and increasing their bottom lines marginally, they actually engendered greater worker loyalty and made them more motivated to do the best they can every day.

“A higher minimum wage will result in increased employee retention, which means lower costs for hiring and training new workers,” John Cooper, president of Spectronics Corporation, told lawmakers, according to the news agency. “It will allow workers to buy essentials they cannot afford now and most of the money they spend will go right back into local businesses. Raising the minimum wage might have a short impact on our profits, the bottom line, but in the long run, it benefits our workers, and it benefits me as owner of the company as well. So it’s a win, win.”

Entrepreneurs who are still worried about such issues if the minimum wage does indeed start rising soon might want to prepare for it by reducing their costs in other ways. This might include taking the time to shop around for more affordable small business insurance, including policies for commercial property insurance, which can potentially cut expenses by thousands of dollars per year.